Baghdad mosque bomber disguised self as beggar

As the deadline for American troops to withdraw from Iraq approaches, new security concerns are being raised.

A suicide bomber killed 29 people in Baghdad Sunday night.

Authorities said the bomber disguised himself as a beggar and attended prayers at the Um al-Qura mosque in western Baghdad for almost a week before he carried out the attack.

Guards first became suspicious when they saw the man moving through the crowd trying to get close to Sheik Ahmed Abdul Gafur al-Samarraie, head of an endowment that oversees all Sunni religious sites nationwide. They took the man outside, but he returned through a back door and blew himself up when he was a few steps away from al-Samarraie.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but suicide attacks generally are a hallmark of al Qaeda.

On Baghdad's streets, weeping relatives and friends held funeral processions for the slain worshippers.

In a statement early Monday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on Iraqis to stand strong against terrorists and "pursue them wherever they are."